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Category: blaze media
John Cornyn: America First senator or MAGA fraud?
It’s election season, and Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) wants voters to believe that he’s an America First candidate and a close ally of President Donald Trump — but BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales knows that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Actions speak louder than words,” Gonzales says on “Come and Take It.” “And so instead of just taking John at his word right now in 2025 when he is just trying to win an election, which, by the way, the polls show he’s probably not going to win. … Let’s look at actions.”
Conservative Review assigns federal officeholders a grade based on their “Liberty Score,” which is based on the top 50 votes that officeholder has taken in the duration of a rolling six-year window.
And Gonzales has Cornyn’s Liberty Score.
“Let’s give reasonable perspective. So, our other Texas senator, Ted Cruz, let’s look at his Liberty Score. He has a respectable 88%. Not perfect. I would expect an A from any senator from the state of Texas,” Gonzales explains.
“John Cornyn is coming in at [an] abysmal 54%,” she says, disturbed. “Now, I’m not great at math, but I believe that that’s an F. That is a failing Liberty grade. John Cornyn is failing in liberty, and this is coming from a Texas senator. That is embarrassing.”
Gonzales points to several things that could have contributed to Cornyn’s failing score.
“Did you know that John Cornyn was one of Joe Biden’s biggest cheerleaders on, well, many things, but one of which was his gun control legislation? Did you know that?” she explains. “Yeah, under Joe Biden, John Cornyn was pretty instrumental in the negotiation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”
“It increased federal grant money to states who enacted red flag laws. So it’s giving an incentive,” she adds.
And President Trump agrees with Gonzales.
“The deal on ‘Gun Control’ currently being structured and pushed in the Senate by the Radical Left Democrats, with the help of Mitch McConnell, RINO Senator John Cornyn of Texas, and others, will go down in history as the first step in the movement to TAKE YOUR GUNS AWAY. Republicans, be careful what you wish for!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“John Cornyn is the one that is being paired together, lumped in with Mitch McConnell, for good reason, because birds of a feather flock together, and the two of them were doing Joe Biden’s bidding with his gun control legislation,” Gonzales says.
“John Cornyn was as anti-MAGA as it gets,” she adds.
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Students as young as 11 allegedly forced to take CDC’s sexually explicit survey in Massachusetts school district
Parents are outraged after a Massachusetts school district allegedly forced children to take a survey their parents had recused them from, and now the Trump administration is investigating some of the complaints.
Burlington Public Schools is under fire from the feds for allegedly forcing students to participate in surveys that were graphic and sexual in nature.
The Boston Herald reported that students as young as 11 years old were required to take the survey.
According to the Boston Herald, the school district required students to take the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which included questions concerning “sexual intercourse, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexting, experiences with sexual assault, alcohol use, and more.”
Even students whose parents had supposedly opted them out of participating in the survey allegedly took it, which, the Trump administration argues, may be a violation of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, given the nature of the questions.
RELATED: Trump’s Education Department stops Clinton-era giveaway for illegal aliens
One of the survey questions reportedly read: “Sexual intercourse includes vaginal sex which is when a penis goes inside of a vagina, oral sex which is contact between the mouth and genitals, anal sex which is when the penis goes inside an anus (butt), and use of toys or props (vaginal or anal). Have you ever had sexual intercourse?”
A document on the Department of Education website explains that the PPRA protects the right of parents to consent to surveys and data collection of their students related to “eight protected areas,” including “sex behavior and attitudes.”
Parents also have the right to “receive notice and an opportunity to opt out of … any protected information survey administered or distributed to a student by [a] local educational agency that is a recipient of funds under an applicable program,” among a few other conditions.
Since the Department of Education states that parents must give “consent before students are required to submit” to such DOE-funded protected information surveys, the incident may have been a violation of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, as is being alleged in the investigation.
“Entities which are found to be in violation of PPRA and fail to take corrective action may lose federal funding,” a source familiar with the investigation at the Department of Education told Blaze News.
Notably, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey is produced and collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System.
While the CDC’s website says that the YRBS is given only to students in grades 9-12, the Boston Herald reported that students as young as 11 years old were required to take the survey.
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Politics, Burlington public schools, Trump administration, Department of education, Youth risk behavior survey, Protection of pupil rights amendment, Centers for disease control and prevention, Youth risk behavior surveillance system
‘You become a serf’: Artificial general intelligence is coming SOON
Artificial general intelligence is coming sooner than many originally anticipated, as Elon Musk recently announced he believes his latest iteration of Grok could be the first real step in achieving AGI.
AGI refers to a machine capable of understanding or learning any intellectual task that a human being can — and aims to mimic the cognitive abilities of the human brain.
“Coding is now what AI does,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck explains. “Okay, that can develop any software. However, it still requires me to prompt. I think prompting is the new coding.”
“And now that AI remembers your conversations and it remembers your prompts, it will get a different answer for you than it will for me. And that’s where the uniqueness comes from,” he continues.
“You can essentially personalize it, right, to you,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere confirms. “It’s going to understand the way you think rather than just a general person would think.”
And this makes it even more dangerous.
“This is something that I said to Ray Kurzweil back in 2011. … I said, ‘So, Ray, we get all this. It can read our minds. It knows everything about us. Knows more about us than anything, than any of us know. How could I possibly ever create something unique?’” Glenn recalls.
“And he said, ‘What do you mean?’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s say I wanted to come up with a competitor for Google. If I’m doing research online and Google is able to watch my every keystroke and it has AI, it’s knowing what I’m looking for. It then thinks, “What is he trying to put together?” And if it figures it out, it will complete it faster than me and give it to the mother ship, which has the distribution and the money and everything else,’” he continues.
“And so you become a serf. The lord of the manor takes your idea and does it because they have control. That’s what the free market stopped. And unless we have control of our own thoughts and our own ideas and we have some safety to where it cannot intrude on those things … then it’s just a tool of oppression,” he adds.
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Mom who used racial slur in viral video faces jail time over criminal charges
The controversial viral video that showed a Minnesota mother using a racial slur against a black child has led to criminal charges that may mean jail time and a fine.
The video from April shows Shiloh Hendrix defiantly insulting a man who was recording her at a local playground in the city of Rochester and accusing her of being racist against a child. At one point, Hendrix flips off the man and then repeats the N-word several times while clutching her own child.
‘This was a situation that deeply affected many people, especially our communities of color, and caused real turmoil in our community.’
“He took my son’s stuff!” she tells the man who follows her in the park, according to the video.
“You know that’s a hate speech?” the man recording says.
“I don’t give a s**t!” she responds.
On Tuesday, the Rochester city attorney filed three counts of disorderly conduct against Hendrix. If she’s convicted of the misdemeanors, she could face 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
“This was a situation that deeply affected many people, especially our communities of color, and caused real turmoil in our community,” Rochester Mayor Kim Norton said. “We acknowledge the lasting impact this incident has had, not only on those directly involved and across our community, but also in the broader conversations happening at the state and national level.”
While many critics immediately assailed the woman for her behavior, others jumped to her defense after her side of the story was offered up in a post on GiveSendGo. She claimed that her address and personal details had been leaked online.
“We are taking the proper procedures in order to stay safe from these constant threats,” she wrote. “I’m still very frightened, and I don’t think I will feel safe until we can escape completely. I am so grateful to all of you who have donated to my family. I never would have imagined that we would be supported to such an extreme.”
The campaign raised over $700,000 before it was unpublished. The site said it disabled comments because some had used racist phrases. A separate donation page for the black child and his family raised over $340,000.
RELATED: Exile on Sesame Street: The terrible glamour of white guilt
In May, the Rochester branch of the NAACP called for charges against Hendrix and offered a list of possible violations that were applicable in the case.
“Even though the law may not change the heart of a heartless adult who traumatized a vulnerable child, it can and must send a strong message — a message that our children have rights to be protected from heartless adults who terrorize and traumatize them,” reads a statement from NAACP branch president Wale Elegbede.
“This child, family, and our community deserve justice for the unjustified harm that was brought upon them by this adult woman,” he added. “Accountability is the only way to ensure these dangerous habits of hate and abuse are curbed and have no place in Rochester, Minnesota.”
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Shiloh hendrix, N-word viral video, Racial slur minnesota, N-word rochester, Politics
Vanity Fair editor says staff will quit over possible Melania cover: ‘I will walk out the motherf**king door’
The possibility of first lady Melania Trump appearing on the cover of Vanity Fair is apparently outraging many workers who may quit their jobs, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
Semafor reported that 37-year-old Mark Guiducci was considering the option after becoming the global editorial director for Vanity Fair.
‘We are not going to normalize this despot and his wife; we’re just not going to do it.’
That revelation was not acceptable to some at the magazine.
“I will walk out the motherf**king door, and half my staff will follow me,” one unidentified editor said to the Mail.
“We are not going to normalize this despot and his wife; we’re just not going to do it. We’re going to stand for what’s right,” the editor continued. “If I have to work bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s, I’ll do it. If [Guiducci] puts Melania on the cover, half of the editorial staff will walk out, I guarantee it.”
The first lady had previously appeared on the cover of the Mexico edition of Vanity Fair in Jan. 2017.
RELATED: Bronze statue of Melania Trump stolen after being sawed off at the ankles
Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images
A different employee cast doubt on the editor’s claims.
“It’s all talk,” the employee said. “If they put her on the cover, people will protest and gripe about it, but I don’t see anyone quitting such a prestigious job over that.”
A New York Post report noted that former first lady Michelle Obama appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair three times, while Melania Trump didn’t appear once on the covers for Vanity Fair or Vogue, which is also owned by Condé Nast.
The current first lady has also been dismissive about the cover appearances.
“Look, I’ve been there on the covers … on the covers of many magazines before. … We have so many other important things to do than to be on the cover of any magazine,” she said to Fox News.
“I think that life would not change for anybody if I’m on the cover,” she added.
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Melania trump, Magazine cover, Vanity fair cover, Anti-melania sentiment, Politics
23 attorneys general call on EPA’s Lee Zeldin to defund radical climate science institute
Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has been an instrumental figure in dismantling the climate science regime during the second Trump administration, including major funding cuts in partnership with the Department of Government Efficiency. Now, nearly half of the states’ attorneys general have called on Zeldin to strike at the head of another climate institution: the Environmental Law Institute.
Headed by Attorney General Austin Knudsen of Montana and signed by 22 other state AGs, the letter calls on Zeldin to cut funding grants for the Environmental Law Institute, which operates the Climate Judiciary Project.
‘The Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project is using woke climate propaganda, under the guise of what they call “neutral” education, to persuade judges and push their wildly unpopular agenda through the court system.’
The letter says that ELI “received approximately 13% of its revenue in 2023 and 8.4% in 2024” from federal grants and appears to expect this funding to continue, according to its financial records.
RELATED: Trump targets 2009 EPA climate rule in bold regulatory shift
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“As attorney general, I refuse to stand by while Americans’ tax dollars fund radical environmental training for judges across the country. The Environmental Law Institute’s Climate Judiciary Project is using woke climate propaganda, under the guise of what they call ‘neutral’ education, to persuade judges and push their wildly unpopular agenda through the court system,” Knudsen said in a statement obtained by Blaze News.
The Climate Judiciary Project, the letter continues, has a clear mission: “Lobby judges in order to make climate change policy through the courts.”
The Climate Judiciary Project claims it “is a first-of-its-kind effort that provides judges with authoritative, objective, and trusted education on climate science, the impacts of climate change, and the ways climate science is arising in the law. Since its creation in 2018, the Climate Judiciary Project estimates that it has hosted more than 50 events and trained more than 2,000 judges.”
The revelations about ELI make clear that it is not shy about political lobbying.
Jason Isaac, the CEO of the American Energy Institute, said in a statement obtained by Blaze News: “Its curriculum is developed by climate alarmist allies of the plaintiffs and delivered to judges behind closed doors. Public funds should never be used to finance political advocacy disguised as judicial education.”
Many supporters of this move have cited legal and ethical concerns as well as issues with consumer protection. “As we have long warned, the left has a plan to reshape American society by using lawsuits in courts all across the country, especially in places like Hawaii and other coastal enclaves. The new wave of revelations about ELI is further concerning evidence of how committed the left is to imposing mandatory Progressive Lifestyle Choices through this courtroom maneuvering and how big a threat it really is to all our ways of life,” O.H. Skinner, the executive director of Alliance for Consumers, said.
The letter was signed by the attorneys general of Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The signatories are calling on Zeldin to have the EPA “cancel any on-going grants to ELI and ensure that ELI does not receive any future grants while it is sponsoring the Climate Judiciary Project.”
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Politics, Lee zeldin, Trump, Trump administration, American energy institute, Environmental law institute, Montana, Austin knudsen, Climate judiciary project, Environmental protection agency, Epa, Doge
Duffy threatens funding freeze for 3 states flouting English requirements for truck drivers
The Department of Transportation is taking action to further clamp down on non-English-speakers with commercial driver’s licenses, following President Donald Trump’s executive action.
The Obama administration’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a memorandum in 2016 that removed a requirement to place drivers out of service due to a lack of English proficiency.
‘States don’t get to pick and choose which federal safety rules to follow.’
Trump reversed that action in April, calling for the enforcement of the law to protect American roads following an increase in fatal accidents involving semi-trucks.
DOT Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Tuesday that the agency would pull federal funding for states that fail to comply with English language proficiency requirements.
He accused California, Washington, and New Mexico of failing to place drivers out of service for ELP violations. Duffy warned the three states that they have 30 days to comply or the DOT will withhold all funding from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.
California receives $30 million, Washington receives $10 million, and New Mexico receives $7 million through that program, Duffy stated during a Tuesday press conference.
RELATED: Florida teams up with ICE to crack down on illegal alien truckers after deadly crash
Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The California Highway Patrol told Overdrive in July that it does not plan to place drivers out of service for ELP violations despite the Trump administration’s new guidance.
The CHP “has not implemented any enforcement changes in response to recent federal guidance requiring commercial drivers to speak English, as it is not part of California law,” a spokesperson told the outlet.
“States don’t get to pick and choose which federal safety rules to follow,” Duffy stated. “As we saw with the horrific Florida crash that killed three, when states fail to enforce the law, they put the driving public in danger. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are taking aggressive action to close these safety gaps, hold states accountable, and make sure every commercial driver on the road is qualified to operate a 40-ton vehicle.”
A spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) appeared to blame the Trump administration for the recent fatal crash in Florida involving Harjinder Singh, an Indian national who received his commercial driver’s license in California. Earlier this month, Singh’s truck crushed a minivan, killing all three passengers, after he allegedly performed an illegal U-turn.
“This is rich. The Trump administration approved the federal work permit for the man who killed 3 people — and now they’re scrambling to shift blame after getting caught,” Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a Newsom spokesperson, told NBC News. “Sean’s nonsense announcement is as big a joke as the Trump administration itself. SAD!”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin denied those claims.
“False. Harjinder Singh is in the United States illegally and his work authorization was rejected under the Trump Administration on September 14, 2020. It was later approved under the Biden Administration June 9, 2021,” McLaughlin wrote in a post on X. “The state of California issues Commercial Drivers Licenses. There is no national CDL.”
“Thank you for confirming that the federal government issued him a work permit and you FAILED to revoke it!” Newsom’s office responded.
The Washington and New Mexico governors’ offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
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News, American trucking industry, American trucking, Trucking, Trucking industry, Commercial driver’s licenses, Commercial driver’s license, Cdl, Cdls, Sean duffy, Department of transportation, Dot, Transportation department, California, Washington, New mexico, Gavin newsom, Newsom, California highway patrol, Illegal immigration, Immigration, Illegal immigration crisis, Road safety, Politics
FBI settles for retaliating against 8 whistleblowers who exposed bureau corruption
The FBI has signed settlement agreements with Garret O’Boyle, Steve Friend, and six other FBI whistleblowers that will provide them with back pay, lump-sum damage payments, restoration of their security clearances, and, in some of the cases, reinstatement to jobs with the bureau.
O’Boyle and Friend were among eight remaining whistleblowers whose settlements were announced Tuesday by Empower Oversight, which represented the current and former FBI employees in their retaliation cases. Two other settlements were previously announced on Aug. 1 and in 2024 under the Biden administration.
‘This settlement closes a painful chapter for my family and me.’
“Whistleblowers risk it all for the sake of simply telling the truth. These 10 whistleblowers’ brave actions were met with intense bureaucratic blowback that caused severe financial and emotional hardship,” said U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who helped mediate between the FBI and the whistleblowers.
“Their lives were upended for years, but I never stopped fighting until things were made right,” Grassley said.
The whistleblower saga has been a black eye for the FBI. Many expected the cases to be resolved quickly after the election of President Donald J. Trump. FBI Director Kash Patel has come under increasing fire for not getting agreements in place sooner to bring justice for the aggrieved whistleblowers.
RELATED: Is the FBI salvageable? Here’s what bureau insiders have to say
Former Special Agent Steve Friend was a member of the Omaha FBI SWAT team and investigated human trafficking cases.Photo courtesy of Steve Friend
Four of the eight whistleblowers will voluntarily retire as part of the agreement package. Three — O’Boyle, Friend, and Zachery Schoffstall — will be reinstated at the FBI. One other remained at the FBI during her case.
“I am grateful to finally see a measure of resolution in my case,” O’Boyle told Blaze News in a statement. “This settlement closes a painful chapter for my family and me, but it does not erase the years of retaliation, reputational harm, and financial hardship that we endured simply because I told the truth.”
Tuesday marked day 1,065 of O’Boyle’s unpaid suspension that will come to a close with his reinstatement.
‘The work to combat weaponization and whistleblower retaliation is far from over.’
Friend said he also “signed the deal,” some 20 months after he resigned from the bureau just before giving sworn whistleblower testimony to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. He said the victory will not mean much if the FBI continues its punishment of whistleblowers.
“While this reinstatement is a vindication about the retaliation I experienced, the victory will ring hollow if the FBI engages in similar retribution against future whistleblowers,” Friend told Blaze News in a statement. “I pray we see the necessary changes to ensure justice for anyone willing to come forward with reasonable concerns about the agency.” The news of settlements is huge vindication for the FBI whistleblowers, all of whom faced varying types and degrees of retribution for making legally protected disclosures.
Friend refused to take part in an FBI SWAT raid at the home of a misdemeanor Jan. 6 suspect, saying the heavy use of force wasn’t justified in the case. O’Boyle made disclosures on COVID-19 shots and policies, the establishment of a tag for investigating parents who attend local school board meetings, and nearly two dozen other issues.
Blaze News has reached out to the FBI for comment.
FBI whistleblowers Garret O’Boyle, Steve Friend, and Marcus Allen testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in May 2023.Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Monica Shillingburg, who now works at the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services, reported potentially illegal restructuring being carried out at the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. She was removed and reassigned for reporting her concerns.
Michael Zummer, a former special agent, lost his security clearance after he reported potential prosecutorial misconduct in public corruption cases in New Orleans.
“For each of these cases where whistleblowers finally received at least some measure of justice for the retaliation they faced just for telling the truth about wrongdoing, there are many more who still need a remedy,” wrote Tristan Leavitt and Jason Foster, president and founder of Empower Oversight, in a letter to Grassley.
“There are more who still have no remedy and no justice,” the men wrote. “The work to combat weaponization and whistleblower retaliation is far from over.”
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Garret o’boyle, Steve friend, Fbi, Fbi whistleblower, Whistleblower, Kash patel, Politics
Trump defends Zelenskyy against Russian official: ‘It’s all bulls**t’
President Donald Trump dismissed the claim of a Russian official as the commander in chief continues to negotiate peace talks with Ukraine.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s minister of foreign affairs, recently said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not sign a peace deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy because he is viewed as an “illegitimate” leader. Trump shot down Lavrov’s comments during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, saying, “Everybody is posturing.”
‘The issue of who is going to sign the deal on Ukrainian side is a very serious issue.’
“It doesn’t matter what they say,” Trump told reporters. “Everybody is posturing. It’s all bullsh**t.”
Trump also offered United States Special Envoy Steve Witkoff the opportunity to chime in, to which he simply said, “I agree with you, sir.” The room filled with reporters and government officials promptly erupted with laughter.
Notably, Zelenskyy’s five-year presidential term was set to end in May 2024, but no elections have been called due to the ongoing conflict with Russia.
RELATED: Trump demands death penalty for DC murderers
Although the Trump administration has held separate summits with both Zelenskyy and Putin in recent weeks, Lavrov said there is “no planned meeting” between the two leaders.
In addition to challenging Zelenskyy’s leadership, Lavrov reiterated the slew of preconditions Russia is demanding from Ukraine. Some of these preconditions include Ukraine agreeing not to join NATO, “the discussion of territorial issues,” and for Zelenskyy to cancel any legislation “prohibiting the Russian language.”
RELATED: Trump makes a bold push for global competitors to abandon nukes: ‘The power is too great’
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“Irrespective of when this meeting might take place, and that must be very well prepared, the issue of who is going to sign the deal on Ukrainian side is a very serious issue,” Lavrov said over the weekend.
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Zelenskyy, Putin, Donald trump, Volodymyr zelenskyy, Vladimir putin, Steve witkoff, Sergey lavrov, Trump administration, Cabinet meeting, Russia ukraine war, Peace deal, Peace talks, Nato, Politics
Media melts down as DC crime crackdown proves WILD success
For the first time in years, Washington, D.C., just went nine days without a single murder— and of course, the media is acting like it’s a bad thing.
The drop in crime comes after more than 2,200 Guard troops were deployed in Washington, who were instructed not to use their weapons unless facing bodily harm themselves.
“The calming words from the people in charge saying, ‘We’re not really going to use these unless there’s a real emergency,’ that didn’t calm down the media, and they framed it a certain way, right?” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere comments on “Stu Does America.”
“Like it’s this evil sort of crackdown on the city. It’s always kind of tilted that way,” he continues, noting that many recent articles do exactly that.
“Some National Guard units in Washington are now carrying firearms in escalation of Trump deployment,” the AP headline reads. “Some National Guard troops in D.C. now armed as Trump takeover continues,” another headline from Fox 5 reads.
“Now, the other headline you should probably know about all of this, is this one,” Burguiere says. “‘Incredible results’: Trump thanks National Guard, police for patrolling D.C.”
JD Vance has also been quite vocal about how well the deployment has been working, despite the liberal media refusing to report on it.
“To echo something the president said about crime in Washington, D.C., this is the national capital of the greatest nation in the world, and we had murder rates just a few weeks ago that rivaled some of the worst third world cities anywhere, even in very, very poor regions of the world,” Vance said on August 22.
“Why did we accept that? Why do we allow it to happen? We allowed it to happen because we had broken leadership in Washington, D.C., and unfortunately, sitting behind the Resolute desk, what we have shown in just under two weeks of taking law enforcement seriously is that the American people can have their street back if their leadership is willing to put in the time and the resources,” he continued.
“Mr. President, you’ve shown in Washington, D.C., that we can have safe streets again,” he added, praising Trump. “We’ve just got to have the political willpower to focus on the bad guys and to give the American people back their communities.”
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Florida teams up with ICE to crack down on illegal alien truckers after deadly crash
A fatal crash in Florida involving an illegal alien semi-truck driver earlier this month prompted the state to take new measures to prevent future tragedies.
State Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday that the state would turn its weigh stations into Immigration and Customs Enforcement checkpoints.
‘All states that are serious about [commercial motor vehicle] enforcement should sign the 287 agreements with ICE and begin stationing ICE agents at weigh stations/ports of entry immediately.’
Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old Indian national who illegally crossed the border into the United States in 2018, was arrested after he jackknifed his truck while allegedly making an illegal U-turn on August 12. The maneuver caused the truck to crush a minivan, killing everyone in the vehicle. Singh obtained his commercial driver’s license in California.
The tragic incident highlighted problems in the American trucking sector related to the nation’s illegal immigration crisis.
“Someone that never should have been given a driver’s license, much less a CDL license to drive larger commercial vehicles, engaged in reckless behavior that took three lives,” Uthmeier stated during a Monday press conference in Live Oak.
“Last night, we saw another example. We were able to arrest an individual who was in the country illegally, who was driving a commercial vehicle in Bay County,” he continued.
Photographer: Carlos Moreno/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Roberto Carlos Vergara Cervantes, an Ecuadorian national, was arrested by ICE and is awaiting deportation. He obtained his CDL from New Jersey, though it was not valid in Florida, according to Uthmeier.
“There’s no telling how many illegal aliens are in this country driving large commercial vehicles and putting American families in a safety risk every single day,” he added.
Uthmeier, alongside Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, announced immigration enforcement at Florida weigh stations, including a new station near the Alabama border on Highway 231. The move will also include the addition of more pullover lanes in north Florida and the implementation of X-ray technology.
“With 23 inspection stations on Florida roadways and 100% of our officers being certified in the 287(g) program, agricultural law enforcement officers are uniquely skilled and positioned to help prevent another tragedy and be a force multiplier in the fight against illegal immigration and criminal activity,” Simpson stated.
Photographer: Rebecca Noble/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Cole Stevens, the chief strategy officer for Stevens Trucking Co., supported Florida’s move.
“All states that are serious about [commercial motor vehicle] enforcement should sign the 287 agreements with ICE and begin stationing ICE agents at weigh stations/ports of entry immediately,” Stevens told Blaze News. “Our coalition has been yelling this for months, and some for years, just how bad the trucking industry has gotten with lack of enforcement for basic safety protocols as well as basic licensing checks.”
“Americans deserve to be safe on our roadways,” he continued. “After all, they do pay the taxes for them through usage taxes, fuel taxes, etc., so they have a major say in roadway safety! I applaud this administration for answering the call and taking a multi-agency approach to correcting this issue that has been building up for years!”
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Appeals court unanimous in pivotal ruling on undated or misdated mail-in ballots
The Republican National Committee was dealt a blow by a unanimous decision of the Third Circuit Appeals Court in the RNC’s effort to discard undated and misdated ballots in Pennsylvania.
The three-judge panel said in the 55-page ruling that the affected ballots needed to be counted and failing to do so was unconstitutional. Pennsylvania voters are required to write the date on the envelope for their mail-in ballots.
‘Discarding thousands of ballots every election is not a reasonable trade-off in view of the date requirement’s extremely limited and unlikely capacity to detect and deter fraud.’
“The date requirement imposes a burden on Pennsylvanians’ constitutional right to vote,” the court ruling reads. “And it culminates in county election boards discarding thousands of ballots each time an election is held. The date requirement will not protect against the vast majority of attempts at voter fraud.”
The RNC unsuccessfully sought to discard those thousands of ballots for the 2025 election. The group argued that the number of affected ballots could swing some of the races.
“The date requirement seems to hamper rather than facilitate election efficiency. By its nature, it fails to add solemnity to the process of voting,” the court continued. “And discarding thousands of ballots every election is not a reasonable trade-off in view of the date requirement’s extremely limited and unlikely capacity to detect and deter fraud.”
RELATED: Texas mayoral candidate charged with 109 felonies related to mail-in ballot voter fraud
In November, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered county election officials to preclude non-dated and misdated ballots from their count.
“These eligible voters who got their ballots in on time should have their votes counted and voices heard,” Pennsylvania ACLU attorney Steve Loney said at the time. “The fundamental right to vote is among the most precious rights we enjoy as Pennsylvanians, and it should take more than a trivial paperwork error to take it away.”
President Donald Trump has said that he intends to focus on ending all mail-in balloting. The U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the appeals court ruling if the case makes it to the highest court of the land.
The three judges of the court were appointed by former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Joe Biden.
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14-year-old girl charged in UK after allegedly defending herself from migrant harasser
A teenage girl was charged with brandishing a weapon after a viral video appeared online.
Scottish police reportedly responded to a call from the Lochee area of Dundee, Scotland, on Saturday evening, the National reported.
Multiple police units were reportedly on scene after a young girl was seen with a bladed weapon, and to make matters worse, the young girl has been connected to a disturbing viral video from the weekend that has garnered over 20 million views.
‘Don’t f**king touch us.’
“Around 7:40 p.m. on Saturday, we received a report of a female youth with a bladed weapon in St Ann Lane, Dundee,” Police Scotland said, per the Daily Record. “Officers attended and a 14-year-old girl was charged in connection. She will be reported to the relevant authorities.”
The reason the girl was carrying the blade is allegedly linked to a viral video where two young girls are seen yelling at a man recording them. The man did not seem to have a Scottish accent, while a Dundee bus in the background appeared to confirm the location.
The video was dated August 24, with reports of the charges coming the following day.
“Don’t f**king touch us,” one girl is heard saying in the video.
One of the young ladies is seen brandishing a large knife and small axe as she and another girl demand the man filming the video to leave them alone.
At the same time, other alleged details posted to X made the story even more disturbing.
RELATED: Why the English flag now terrifies the regime
“The story keeps getting worse,” the account that posted the video later wrote.
An attached image said the teen’s 12-year-old sister was being approached by a Muslim man when she brandished the weapons.
However, another X user claimed the young girl was having an altercation with another girl and attached an article from the Scottish Sun. That article did not provide any additional details, though.
Blaze News contacted Police Scotland for additional comment on the matter. Spokeswoman Lisa Smith told Blaze News, “There were no adults arrested or charged” in relation to the incident.
The spokeswoman confirmed, “Around 7:40 p.m. on Saturday, 23 August, 2025, we received a report of a female youth with a weapon in St Ann Lane, Dundee.”
RELATED: Police drag away a man for saying he likes bacon near a sprawling mosque construction site
Police in Glasgow, Scotland, April 10, 2019. Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
“These kind of areas have a lot of violence, and I’ve seen weapons brandished several times like this before,” Scottish content creator Robin Alderslowe told Blaze News.
“Authorities should not be delicate if this indeed was a case of a migrant failing to integrate properly. Progressives may be quick to label this as a reaction to ‘far-right fearmongering,’ but when we bring in people from different cultures, there are bound to be cultural issues.”
Restore Britain’s investigative reporter Lewis Brackpool remarked to Blaze News, “If 12-year-old girls need to carry knives on the streets of the United Kingdom, it’s a bad sign.”
“When will liberals and progressives admit that multiculturalism has failed?” Brackpool asked.
Blaze News asked Police Scotland to confirm whether the young girl was having an altercation with another teen girl or if she had brandished the weapons at an adult; a response was not provided.
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Trump hasn’t changed his position on China one bit
President Donald Trump stunned his own supporters Monday night when he told reporters he would guarantee 600,000 visa spots for Chinese college students, calling the move “very important.”
The announcement rattled some of Trump’s closest allies, many of whom distrust Beijing, the nationals it sends abroad, and its larcenous trade and technology practices. These allies had been hoping for a sharp reset in U.S.-China relations. But perhaps no one should be shocked. Has Trump’s thinking on China really shifted at all?
No one should be shocked. Trump has never hidden his priorities. We’ve known this reality for a long time.
China remains a central focus for many in Trump’s inner circle. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and trade adviser Peter Navarro have all pressed for a tougher approach. Outside figures like “Shark Tank’s” Kevin O’Leary and “War Room” host Steve Bannon argue for an even deeper break — a full decoupling of the two economies.
Observers who hoped this faction would steer Trump’s policy have grown uneasy as his dealings with Beijing continue. Even so, Monday’s promise jolted them.
“It’s a very important relationship,” Trump said of Chinese-American dealings. “As you know, we’re taking a lot of money in from China. … We’re going to allow their students to come in; it’s very important. … It’s a different relationship that we have now with China; it’s a much better relationship economically than it was before.”
Trump cited 600,000 visas — more than double the already staggering 270,000 Chinese students estimated to be studying in the United States. Every one of those students comes with Beijing’s explicit approval and often faces pressure and demands from the regime while abroad. That reality has drawn the eye of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who promised this spring to “aggressively review” Chinese student visas.
But should anyone be surprised by what came out of the Oval Office? Trump has never claimed his priority was decoupling. His goal has always been the same: getting a better deal. From his first book, “The Art of the Deal,” to his earliest interviews with Larry King, Oprah Winfrey, and Diane Sawyer, Trump repeated the same theme: “America is being ripped off. We’re a debtor nation.”
Even as he has sought to reimagine America’s foreign policy, his consistency is striking. He once took out full-page ads in the Boston Globe, New York Times, and Washington Post blasting U.S. taxpayers for subsidizing the defenses of wealthy nations — from Japan to Saudi Arabia — while those same allies exploited American trade policies.
His open letter was titled, “There’s nothing wrong with America’s foreign defense policy that a little backbone can’t cure.” That was on September 2, 1987 — 38 years ago next week. Sound familiar?
From Japan and Saudi Arabia to China and NATO, Trump has always framed foreign policy around getting a better deal. But China is not just another trading partner. Beijing steals American technology; spies on universities, businesses, and labs; poisons young Americans through predatory tech platforms; censors Hollywood to match its propaganda; and floods our economy with cheap plastic garbage. It parks money in U.S. stocks to distort markets, buys farmland and real estate near military bases, and underwrites it all with cooked books, pirated products, and virtual slave labor.
No “better deal” fixes those problems. If American universities have become financially dependent on this racket — as Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told Laura Ingraham Monday night — then the solution is to break that dependence, not deepen it by doubling student visas and further inflating tuition costs.
Americans have every reason to feel anger and disappointment over where these China talks are heading. We can still hope the worst concessions get stripped out before any deal is final. But no one should be shocked. Trump has never hidden his priorities. We’ve known this reality for a long time.
Blaze News: America First energy policy will be key to beating China in the AI race
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Trump demands death penalty for DC murderers
President Donald Trump continues to crack down on crime, this time calling for capital punishment.
During Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump said he would be seeking the death penalty for anyone who was found guilty of murder in Washington, D.C. Trump acknowledged the severity of this proposal but said it was a “preventative” measure to significantly improve the safety and quality of life for residents in the nation’s capital.
‘We have no choice.’
“If somebody kills somebody in the capital — Washington, D.C. — we’re going to be seeking the death penalty,” Trump said.
“It’s a very strong preventative, and everybody that’s heard it agrees with it,” Trump added.
RELATED: Trump makes a bold push for global competitors to abandon nukes: ‘The power is too great’
“I don’t know if we’re ready for it in this country, but we have no choice,” Trump said. “So in D.C., in Washington, states are going to have to make their own decision, but if somebody kills somebody … it’s the death penalty.”
Trump’s call to action comes just two weeks after the administration federalized the Metropolitan Police Department and deployed the National Guard. Before Trump took matters into his own hands, D.C. had the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country, with 27.3 murders for every 100,000 residents in 2024, which is nearly six times higher than New York City.
After Trump took bold action to secure the city, D.C. managed to go nearly two weeks without a homicide.
RELATED: President Trump’s DC crime crackdown is getting results
Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
During the Cabinet meeting, Trump addressed NTD News’ White House correspondent, Iris Tao, who recounted her own experience with violent crime in D.C.
Over two years ago, Tao said she was robbed at gunpoint and pistol-whipped by a young man in a ski mask in broad daylight, which she said “deeply traumatized” her and her family.
“I’m very grateful to God … but also to Mr. President,” Tao said. “Thank you for now making D.C. safer … on behalf of my parents and now my baby on the way.”
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Study warns of possible link between world’s most popular painkiller and autism
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. raised the alarm earlier this year about the meteoric rise of reported autism cases in the United States, underscoring at a press conference, “We are doing this to our children, and we need to put an end to it.”
“The [autism spectrum disorder] prevalence rate in 8-year-olds is now 1 in 31,” said Kennedy, referring to a study that examined children born in 2014. The health secretary noted further that American boys face an “extreme risk” of ending up with autism, stating that they have a 1 in 20 chance of being diagnosed with the condition — or a 1 in 12.5 chance in California.
Kennedy promised President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting in April that “by September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.”
A study published this month in the peer-reviewed medical journal BMC Environmental Health could prove valuable to the Department of Health and Human Services’ campaign to narrow down the possible causes of autism.
Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles’ School of Public Health, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai systematically reviewed 46 “well-designed” studies incorporating data from over 100,000 participants regarding the relationship between neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and prenatal exposure to acetaminophen.
‘The research team’s findings strengthen the evidence for a connection and raise concerns about current clinical practices.’
Acetaminophen, the drug sold under the brand Tylenol in the United States and Canada, is the most common over-the-counter pain and fever medication used during pregnancy and is reportedly used by well over 50% of pregnant women worldwide.
The researchers found that 27 of the studies reported “significant links” between acetaminophen exposure in the womb and NDDs and noted that “higher-quality studies were more likely to show positive associations.”
“Overall, the majority of the studies reported positive associations of prenatal acetaminophen use with ADHD, ASD, or NDDs in offspring, with risk-of-bias and strength-of-evidence ratings informing the overall synthesis,” said the study.
RELATED: FDA blasts ‘politically motivated’ criticism over review of SSRI health risks during pregnancy
Photo by Jennifer Polixenni Brankin/Getty Images
When specifically evaluating the studies pertaining to Tylenol use and autism in children, the researchers found “strong evidence of a relationship between prenatal acetaminophen use and increased risk of ASD in children.”
The drug freely crosses the placental barrier, “reaching levels in fetal circulation similar to maternal circulation within less than an hour of maternal ingestion.”
According to the researchers, the drug:
“undergoes oxidative metabolism via the enzyme CYP2E1 — present in fetal brains, placenta, and lungs — to produce toxic metabolites”;”affects prostaglandin and endocannabinoid pathways, which are involved in prenatal neuronal development”;has been shown in animal models to increase “oxidative stress markers in the fetal brain and is associated with neurodevelopmental deficits”; and”directly perturbs hormone-dependent processes, affects neurodevelopment and reproductive disorders, and might alter steroidogenesis in the placenta and induce placental damage.”
Dr. Diddier Prada, an assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said in a release, “Our findings show that higher-quality studies are more likely to show a link between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and increased risks of autism and ADHD.”
“Given the widespread use of this medication, even a small increase in risk could have major public health implications,” added Prada.
Mount Sinai noted that while the damning study “does not show that acetaminophen directly causes neurodevelopmental disorders,” “the research team’s findings strengthen the evidence for a connection and raise concerns about current clinical practices.”
RELATED: Jab first, ask questions never: Vaccine truths your doctor won’t tell you
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The medical community has long raised concern about the possible downsides of acetaminophen consumption during pregnancy.
An international coalition of public health experts said in a consensus statement published on Sept. 23, 2021, in the journal Nature Reviews Endocrinology that “increasing experimental and epidemiological research suggests that prenatal exposure to APAP [acetaminophen] might alter fetal development, which could increase the risks of some neurodevelopmental, reproductive, and urogenital disorders.”
‘This work is ongoing, and the department will follow the science wherever it leads.’
“Epidemiological studies consistently suggest prenatal APAP exposure might increase the risk of adverse neurodevelopmental and behavioral outcomes, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, language delay (in girls) and decreased intelligence quotient,” said the experts. “Collectively, the studies suggest that the timing and duration of maternal APAP use are critical factors.”
HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard told Blaze News that HHS does not comment on outside studies. Hilliard noted, however, that “under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, HHS is taking action guided by gold-standard, evidence-based science. This work is ongoing, and the department will follow the science wherever it leads.”
Tylenol does not appear to be particularly pleased with the study.
A company spokesperson for Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, said in a statement to Blaze News, “Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the people who use our products. We continue to evaluate the science, and this study does not change our view that there is no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and fetal developmental issues.”
“To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and leading medical organizations agree on the safety of acetaminophen, its use during pregnancy, and the information provided on the label,” added the spokesperson.
A source close to Tylenol noted further that “it appears the study was designed for litigation and not public health, as two of the authors are experts for the plaintiffs in the acetaminophen litigation.”
Harvard University’s Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, one of the authors on the study, served as an expert witness on matters of general causation involving acetaminophen use during pregnancy in a multi-district litigation class-action lawsuit against Tylenol.
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DOJ releases full Ghislaine Maxwell transcripts — and they raise more questions than answers
The U.S. Department of Justice has released the entirety of the Ghislaine Maxwell transcripts, which reveal the conversations had between Pam Bondi’s Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, and Maxwell — who has been convicted of trafficking underage girls to Jeffrey Epstein.
“After our outcry, the Department of Justice sat down with Ghislaine Maxwell. Kind of unbelievable that they hadn’t done that before, that no Department of Justice had ever asked Ghislaine Maxwell about Jeffrey Epstein specifically. Mind-blowing, actually,” BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler says on “The Liz Wheeler Show.”
And Wheeler believes there are some important takeaways from the transcripts.
“First of all, it’s important to understand that Ghislaine Maxwell is not a good person. She’s a criminal, and she’s the worst kind of criminal. She trafficked underage girls to a pedophile, and she’s serving time in prison for it, which she should be,” Wheeler says.
But it wasn’t just Maxwell’s answers that has Wheeler questioning whether they’re true.
“The more I read of these transcripts, the back-and-forth between Maxwell and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, it didn’t answer my questions,” she continues. “It raised more questions.”
“First of all, Ghislaine Maxwell does not think that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. So, on that, I suppose she agrees with the majority of the American people,” she explains.
“I do not believe he died by suicide, no,” Maxwell said in the interview.
Blanche went on to ask whether she believes he was murdered by someone on the outside of prison who wanted him dead or a disgruntled prisoner on the inside?
“Of course, it’s possible,” she continued. “But I don’t know of any reason why, and I don’t believe in the blackmail or in any of this. I don’t think Epstein had a hit on like that.”
Wheeler notes that throughout the transcript, it feels “like he’s leading her to her answers.”
“It feels to me like these are not open-ended questions, that these are him planting ideas,” she says.
And as Wheeler continues to go through the transcript, she continues to see Blanche planting ideas.
“So, what is the takeaway from this conversation? The takeaway from this portion of the conversation is, Todd Blanche is leading Ghislaine Maxwell to the conclusion. I don’t know what Todd Blanche believes. I don’t know Todd Blanche personally,” she says, adding, “but he’s clearly forming the conversation to get her to agree with him, not asking open-ended questions.”
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Cracker Barrel desperately rewrites ‘inclusion’ and DEI web page after backlash
Cracker Barrel has changed its diversity page at least three times this month as it deals with backlash from the redesign.
Love for the franchise tanked when customers saw the company had changed its recognizable logo into a shadow of its former self, removing the “old-timer” known as Uncle Herschel sitting on a chair next to a barrel.
‘Discrimination, overt or through unconscious bias, has no place at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.’
Also gone was the barrel itself, along with the text “Old Country Store,” leaving just black “Cracker Barrel” text on a yellow background. The new menus, website, and interior design of Cracker Barrel locations also angered consumers, leaving the company to apologize for the errors.
The company does not appear to be returning to the old logo and design, however, and is seemingly digging itself a deeper hole by trying to mask its progressive leanings.
In an attempt to invoke old Uncle Herschel without actually showing him, Cracker Barrel has featured “the Herschel Way” on its web page dedicated to “culture and belonging.”
“Our culture of belonging extends to our guests. The Herschel Way is our standard for hospitality,” the company wrote. However, the new text represents at least the third change to the page this month as the company deals with the blowback over the past week.
Thanks to internet archives, readers can see what Cracker Barrel’s progressive page looked like on August 4, which at that time was labeled “culture and inclusion.”
The page included mentions of being “inclusive,” while stating, “Discrimination, overt or through unconscious bias, has no place at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.”
Also featured was a photo labeled “Moving Forward Together,” showcasing a diverse cast of people, including a man in a wheelchair.
By August 21, the company had updated the page to reflect its new font and style, but it seemingly remained identical otherwise. That was, until the fury of American consumers hit.
RELATED: Cracker Barrel ditches Americana as customers call for boycott over iconic brand change
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
August 21 was the same day many outlets — including Blaze News — began covering the backlash from Cracker Barrel customers, and by the next day on August 22, the desperate diversity image was removed.
Fast-forward another few days, and Cracker Barrel has remodeled the page to change its wording away from “inclusion” and toward “belonging.”
This is not the first time the company has eliminated certain words to cover its messaging, though. Back in July 2024, the same page used the heading “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging” at Cracker Barrel. In fact, the previous link still redirects to the new text, further proving the adjustments were made to the same page.
The 2024 page showcased extreme dedication to diversity and race-based initiatives. It celebrated “Diversity in Our Decor,” “Diversity in Our Leadership & Development,” and even boasted about achievements on the Human Rights Campaign “equality index.”
According to investigative reporter Robby Starbuck, the company “sponsored HRC events for 10 years” and even “brought an HRC representative to their Tennessee HQ to do a pronoun and transgenderism training.”
Cracker Barrel told Fox News it “has not participated in the Human Rights Campaign Index or had any affiliation with HRC in several years.”
RELATED: Cracker Barrel responds with sneaky message after backlash over rebrand
There are almost too many initiatives to name from the 2024 page, but the company bragged about “standing against racial injustice,” having “zero tolerance” for gay discrimination, and offering a series of gay and race-driven events.
What has remained consistent throughout the years, though, has been Cracker Barrel’s promotion of programs like “Be Bold,” a mission to develop “black leaders,” and the “LGBTQ+ Alliance,” which has the purpose of “strengthening Cracker Barrel’s relationship to the LGBTQ+ community.”
In addition, HOLA’s mission is to “promote Hispanic and Latino culture through hiring, developing, and retaining talent within Cracker Barrel.”
The Cracker Barrel spokesperson insisted in comments to Fox News that the company’s “values haven’t changed, and the heart and soul of Cracker Barrel haven’t changed.”
“Cracker Barrel has been a destination for comfort and community for more than half a century, and this fifth evolution of the brand’s logo, which works across digital platforms as well as billboards and roadside signs, is a callback to the original and rooted even more in the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all back in 1969,” Cracker Barrel said.
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Rainbow Batman from LEGO sparks outrage: ‘We don’t need gay Batman!’
Fans may be displaying some misplaced outrage over a new rainbow-themed Batman character depending on who is asked.
DC Comics, along with Warner Bros., and LEGO have announced a new video game called LEGO® Batman™: Legacy of the Dark Knight and allowed fans to get a first look at some of the Batman costumes that will be playable in the game.
‘The rainbow didn’t always represent the LGBT mafia.’
Some gamers were shocked when screenshots of a rainbow-themed Batman suit immediately started making the rounds online.
Plenty of Batman fans on X had strong reactions to the images, with one user saying, “Smart move, immediately alienate most of your audience.”
“They went woke,” another reply simply read.
While some people made jokes, like the idea that if anyone attacked Batman while he wore the suit it would be a hate crime, others were quick to point out that some of the original images were hiding crucial information.
RELATED: CNN attacks Trump’s DC crime move, accidentally hands him the Batman cape
Another Batman fan posted an uncropped image from the game, showing the rainbow suit but included an important caption: “In this uncharacteristically eye-catching outfit, Batman distracted criminals by wearing garish colours.”
The info also revealed the rainbow Batsuit dates back to a March 1957 comic, Detective Comics #241.
The plotline had Batman wearing different colored suits (red, blue, yellow, green, and finally rainbow-colored) to distract from an injured Robin who was trying to hide his identity.
The story was brought back to life in 2010’s “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” Season 2, Episode 19, titled “Emperor Joker!“
Plenty of other sources pointed to prior uses of the rainbow suit to claim it isn’t connected to a LGBTQ ideology, but as YouTuber Ryan Kinel pointed out, it remains to be seen what the game creators want consumers to do when the game is actually released.
RELATED: Luigi Mangione did NOT have a ‘Joker moment’
“A lot of people are seeing that saying, ‘We don’t need gay Batman. Get gay Batman out of here!’ Blah blah blah. And you know what? If the point to unlock this suit is to do some gay mission, then maybe I’m down with you,” Kinel said on his channel. “However, until we see something like that; the reality is the rainbow didn’t always represent the LGBT mafia, right? That was not always the case. Sometimes rainbows, especially decades ago, were just rainbows. And the rainbow Batsuit, even though it was kind of a stupid story, it is from the comic books. It’s from a comic book set in the ’50s.”
LEGO® Batman™: Legacy of the Dark Knight does not yet have a release date, but since the LEGO games typically skew to a very young audience, it is understandable for gamers to be cautious.
Whether it was purposeful bait to garner media attention, a simple reference to a classic comic, or an ideological push, the game is certainly getting free advertising from both supporters and detractors.
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‘Make Cracker Barrel a WINNER Again’: Trump says restaurant chain can take advantage of controversy
As the controversy over Cracker Barrel’s renovated image continues to rage on, the president offered his advice to make the company a “WINNER” again.
Critics have branded the revamp of the 55-year-old restaurant the newest “woke” corporate disaster after the company simplified its logo and decluttered its store’s interior design.
‘They got a Billion Dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right.’
President Donald Trump weighed in Tuesday from his account on Truth Social.
“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before. They got a Billion Dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right,” he wrote.
“Very tricky to do, but a great opportunity. Have a major News Conference today. Make Cracker Barrel a WINNER again. Remember, in just a short period of time I made the United States of America the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World. One year ago, it was ‘DEAD.’ Good luck!” he added.
Images of the logo and redecoration went viral Wednesday on social media, and the furor led to the company’s stock price plummeting by 15% on Thursday. The stock recovered most of that drop by Tuesday, but it is still down 10% over the last month.
Much of the blame for the rebranding has been placed on the company’s CEO, Julie Felss Masino, who previously worked as a Taco Bell executive. Masino said in 2024 that the company was no longer “relevant” and detailed her plans to freshen up its identity with new menu items.
RELATED: Cracker Barrel’s long history of cozying up to left-leaning organizations exposed
On Monday the company responded to the outrage with a statement on Facebook.
“If the last few days have shown us anything, it’s how deeply people care about Cracker Barrel,” read the statement in part. “You’ve also shown us that we could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be.”
Masino, meanwhile, said that the rebrand followed what the company heard from customers.
“I think what’s important is that we are listening to our guests. We’re doing this all for them,” she said on “Good Morning America.” “What’s important is things that people love about Cracker Barrel, the soul of Cracker Barrel, is not changing. The rocking chairs are still there, the fireplace is there, the peg game, all the things that make Cracker Barrel Cracker Barrel, the vintage decor — it’s still there, and it’s working”
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Trump on cracker barrel, Cracker barrel backlash, Woke rebranding, Julie felss masino, Politics
